brianna & braden

I always say these things will be short and then I end up rambling on forever, so this time I won't even say this will be short, even though I'm planning for it to be so! First of all I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be thankful for. Obviously, I am thankful for our beautiful baby girl who brings us so much joy, and as you've been seeing, is growing way too fast! I'm so thankful for the wonderful family that we have, they are so wonderfully supportive and loving, and for my handsome new nephew, who I can't wait to spoil!! I am thankful for all of the new babies that have gotten here safely this year, and pray for the ones still on the way, and also for beautiful baby McKenna, who every day shows us all that the its not the size of the body that matters, it is the strength of the soul, the love of family, (especially two amazing parents), and faith that really counts. And we are also very thankful for our wonderful friends that we are so lucky to have. As I said we have many things to be thankful for this holiday season, so thank you to all of you who check in on us, you are all very special to us and we are so very lucky to have you in our lives!

OK, I'm done with the mushy stuff now! :o) As you can see we went to see little Braden this weekend (oh, and Angie & Nick too!) I've added the pictures to Braden's album, there are quite a few of them, so enjoy! Other than that, I guess there isn't too much to tell, we had a great time visiting with the Creech family, and are so excited about their new addition. Braden is so adorable, and judging by the fact that he wasn't put down for more than 5 minutes at a time the whole weekend, I think he's going to be just a little spoiled! :o) Just kidding guys! We love him and you and can't wait to see you at Christmas!

Love to you all!!

mr. braden nicholas creech

I've added a Braden photo album. Click on the link to the left to see some pictures of the cutie pie! I'll be adding more soon!! :o) I've also changed the links a little bit. The photo album list for Brianna was getting out of control, so I will have a link to the most recent album from now on. Don't worry the rest of the pictures will still be there, you just need to check out my whole collection of albums now! And yes, Braden has his own section, but hey, I've never been an aunt before, so its exciting for me!

just a quick note

Just wanted to write a quick note, its been a busy weekend, and I'm tired, so this definitely won't be too long! Friday was Grandma's 75th birthday, so we went to Iowa to help her celebrate. On Saturday Mom and Dad went to St. Louis to wait for the arrival of their newest grandchild, so Bob, I, & Brianna headed back to Illinois. We were supposed to spend the weekend getting the house ready for Christmas, since we won't be home for the next two weekends, but we ended up not getting a whole lot accomplished! Oh well, thats usually the way that goes. There are new pictures, but I haven't created a link yet, so you can click down at the bottom of the left side to get to the main page with all the photo albums. I've created a new photo album that has pictures from Grandma's birthday (THANKS LINDA!!) and some of Brianna (yes, I know there are a lot of the same picture, but I have my reasons!) And it is easier to upload the whole file instead of picking and choosing. I promise I will go through them one day and delete a bunch, when I get some extra time! I guess that is about all. I'm anxiously awaiting pictures of my nephew, and can't wait to see him in person!

Please especially keep Dale, Suzanne, & McKenna in your prayers, that precious little angel has a strong spirit inside that tiny little body, and the power of prayer is an amazing thing!

we have a nephew!!

Braden Nicholas Creech was born at 10:37 pm on November 19, 2005. He weighed 9lbs and was 21 inches long. From what I've heard he has lots of dark hair. Congrats Angie & Nick, we can't wait to see all of you!!

Also born yesterday was Dale & Suzanne's little one. McKenna Arlene Felton was born at 2:35 am and weighed 1 lb 12 oz. Congrats Dale & Suzanne on your beautiful little girl!

Please keep the 4 parents and these 2 little babies in your thoughts and prayers!

We love you all!!

quick note

Just wanted to let you know I've added a section for links to family and friend's websites. So if you have a site that you would like added, let me know!

couple more things...

OK...so I did have a few new pictures. :o) They are in the Volume 4 album. Bob got ahold of my camera while Brianna and I were napping. I've also added captions to the pictures, since I've had comments about my not doing that last week! :o) What do you people want from me?! :o) Just kidding! I added a guestbook to the site, so feel free to leave your comments and or criticisms (not that I'll take your advice...but you can leave it!) ;o) Well, I guess I should head off to bed soon, so...goodnight all!

just a little note...

Hi all...sorry no new pictures this week! Maybe later on in the week, but no promises. Nothing much new to report...we hired someone at work on Monday, so that is good...its weird to have someone else in the office, and I've discovered I have some control issues, its been hard to give up even the things I hate! But hopefully everything will work out and run smoothly! We took Brianna to get her picture taken on Saturday, she did pretty well, they just don't spend a whole lot of time with anyone because they book their appointments about 10 minutes apart, so with a 3 month old its hard to get really good pictures. but they did turn out pretty well, and I'm sure we'll have her picture taken again sometime soon. Other than that, I guess things are pretty boring around here. I'll try to post more this week, time just gets away from me these days.

I ask that you all keep Dale, Suzanne, & their baby in your thoughts and prayers, they are going through a really stressful time and prayers are one of the best things that we can do for them.

Love to all!

short & sweet

This is going to be pretty quick tonight. We just got back from Iowa about an hour ago, so I'm dead tired, and can't really think of much to write about. We went to Sarah (Hawkins) Weipert's wedding reception on Saturday night, the 5th (also Sarah's birthday). Sarah & Nathan actually got married on the 15th of October in Kansas City, MO, but then had a reception in Cascade for those who couldn't make it. She looked stunning, as you can see, and it was great to see her and her family. We also got to spend some time with Mom & Dad, which is always good, and got to get a break from the countless things that need to be done here at home. Well, now its back to reality, and we came home to find that our schedule on our DVR somehow got erased, so everything we had set to tape over the weekend never got taped, including the Bears game, that unfortunately wasn't on TV at Mom & Dad's today either....Booo :o( Anyway, I guess thats about all...I've added some more pictures to the Volume 4 album, there are a lot of Brianna in the dress that she wore to the reception on Saturday and also the dress that Mom & Dad gave her. She wouldn't smile, so I had to keep taking them! Until next time.....our love to all!
PS. I just noticed that I look the tallest of the 3 of us in this picture. That is quite sad, as I've never been the tallest in any group before! Thanks Sarah and Jill for making me look tall, even if it was only for a second!

happy halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and that you have a great Halloween tomorrow. I've added pictures to the Volume 4 of Brianna in her Halloween costume...I know there are a lot of them, but she just looked so cute! I was trying to get her to give me one of her great big smiles, but all I could get out of her was a few smirks and some tongue sticking out! I guess other than that, there isn't too much to report, we helped Ben & Amanda move into their new house this weekend, it is a georgous house! We had a lot of fun spending time with them this weekend, even if we were moving stuff! :o) We will be heading to Iowa this coming weekend to attend a wedding reception for a friend of mine from high school, so it will be nice to see some family and friends. I guess that is all, enjoy the new pictures! Man, I can't believe I amost forgot to mention about the World Series! Of course, we were tuned into the World Series and even stayed up until 1:30am on Tuesday night to watch the 3rd game. This was a very happy household on Thursday morning...its good to be Sox fans! I completely enjoyed the baseball season this year (although I usually do) and we even got to go to a game with the Wolfe family. It was a great baseball season, and I can't wait until next year!Have a good week everyone! Until next time...

bob & his trophy!

Here is Bob with his 2005 Club Championship trophy. We love you and are very proud of you!!

let's go sox!!

Hope the weekend is finding you all well. We have a pretty low key weekend planned, watching the Sox is a big part of it and the other is Bob's golf tournament tomorrow. It is the Sterling Hacker played at his home course, its just a fun tournament to end the season basically, he will also be presented with his Club Championship trophy tomorrow. Other than that there isn't a whole lot going on here. Brianna and I went shopping with Amanda today, she slept the entire time and was very good. OH, she rolled over from her back to tummy last night, that was very exciting! Anyway, I guess I don't have much else to write about, no doctor's appointments until December, but she is growing so fast, I can't believe she is almost 3 months old already! I've added a new album, because the other one is getting out of control! Enjoy the new pics, I'm sure there will be more in the near future! Love to all!

a weekend at home??

That's right folks we are actually spending the whole weekend at home! We were supposed to be helping Ben & Amanda move into their new house, but they found out last weekend that their closing was being moved back 2 weeks...boo :o( So, anyway, that freed up our weekend. Bob took Brianna up to the lake yesterday to visit Great-Grandma Caruso. Amy took Jake and Joey up there as well, so that is how we got the adorable pictures of the two of them together. Joey was born on September 18th, so he is about 6 weeks younger than Brianna. He is a doll, and I think the two of them are going to be great friends. Today we did a bunch of stuff around the house, finally got Brianna's room organized, so that feels good. And now of course it is a night filled with the White Sox and tomorrow will be filled with the Bears and the White Sox! Oh well, its nice to be able to spend some time together! And work is going well, we placed an ad on Friday to find someone to do the clerical work that I can't keep up with and to answer phones (yippee) and we've already gotten 8 resumes, so things are looking good. I really hope that someone works out because I just can't keep up anymore. They keep giving me more things to do, which is great, but then I don't have anyone to give all of my other "not-so-important" things to, so there are mounds of filing to do. But hopefully I can get everything all cleaned up for the new person when we hire them, and my life will be much less stressful (thats the hope anyway!), and tax season will run much smoother! Well, I guess thats about all that is going on here. Oh, Brianna started sucking her thumb today...it was very cute. And she is almost ready to roll over, she has gotten so close in the last few days, its only a matter of time. There are some new pictures in the Volume 3 album as well.(I'm going to have to start a new one soon) The first few are of Brianna at work with me and then there are more pictures of her and Joey up at the lake. Have a good night everyone! GO SOX!!!

another weekend in the books

Since last weekend had a picture of me & Brianna, I decided that it was only fair to put a picture of Brianna & her daddy on this weeks post. We spent the weekend traveling....first to Iowa to see Mom & Dad, and then to Moline to spend some time with Alli & Steve. It was kind of a hectic weekend, but it was very fun. We don't get to see Alli & Steve much, so we had a great time chatting with them. And apparently Alli & I had a lot to catch up on and were keeping a certain someone awake (Steve :o) ). We stayed and watched most of the Astros/Braves game, but ended up leaving in the 16th inning. We also unfortunately saw the Bears game, hence the biggest and littlest Bears fans to the left! :o) We did listen to the Sox game on the way to Iowa on Friday night and were very excited about their victory! Can't wait to see what tomorrow night's game brings! OH...I almost forgot, Brianna had her 2 month check up on Friday. She is now weighing in at 10 pounds and is 22 inches long. She also had to get 4 shots on Friday, but did very well. She's a tough cookie! Hopefully I'm as tough when they make me get a flu shot this year...yuck! Other than that, we're just working and trying to keep our house off of the federally declared disaster area list! I hope everyone is doing well, we love to hear how everyone is doing, so please keep in touch. I've added our email address to the left so you don't even have to look it up or anything! :o) I have added some new pictures from the weekend and from this morning (she just looked so cute I couldn't help myself from taking pictures of her) they are in the Volume 3 album. Take care of yourselves...until next time.....

trip to the pumpkin farm

Well...its been another exciting weekend here in the Carroll house. Last night Bob and I went out without Brianna for the first time. Bob and Nancy came to babysit and Bob and I went out to dinner with Ben, Amanda, & Stephanie (Amanda's sister). We had a good time, even though we did miss our little cutie pie! Today Bob went golfing with his dad, so Brianna and I went with Ben, Amanda, Steph, & Kadi (Steph's friend) to see Ben and Amanda's new house. It isn't completed yet, but will be done very soon (They are closing and moving in 2 weeks!) The house is georgous! After checking out the house we went to a pumpkin farm. It was such a beautiful day and there were lots of people out. We walked around and checked everything out...this would be a great place to take Brianna when she gets older, they had pony rides and everything! So after checking out all of the stuff we picked out our pumpkins, we ended up getting three for our little pumpkin family, so after we carve them I'll be sure to post pictures! Anyway, we all had a great time and it was nice to get outside today and do something different. I've posted some new pictures to the Volume 3 album, some are from our trip today, the others are from the last couple of days. Brianna is growing so fast, I can't believe how much she has changed in 2 months. Well, I guess I should head off to bed...hope you all had/are having a good weekend. Until next time...

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! (October 1st)

Congratulations Andrew, Holly, & Ella on your newest addition, Lily Grace. She is beautiful! We hope to see you all sometime in the near future!

another busy weekend

Well...I think this will be a short post tonight, since I'm exhausted. Nancy threw a shower for Miss Brianna today, so we just got home a couple of hours ago. She got so many nice things (as she has for the last almost 2 months) I don't know where we are going to put it all! It was a very nice party. Other than that I guess we didn't do too much, so I guess it wasn't really that busy, it just seemed that way. Mom came on Tuesday night and we headed to Matteson, IL for the Enrolled Agent Exam. Mom spent time with Brianna while I beat my head on the table from this ridiculous exam. Other than that our week was pretty boring I guess. I've posted some new pictures of Brianna in Volume 3, and also some additional pictures from Baptism in the Baptism album. Nancy gave us some pictures so I uploaded them, I'm sure there are duplicates, but I didn't have a whole lot of time to sort through everything, so take a look if you want. The picture to the left is Brianna all dressed up for her shower. She slept pretty much the whole time and the ladies there doubted that she ever opened her eyes, just like some family members I know! :o) But as you can see, it does happen on occasion that she opens her eyes. Other than that I guess there isn't too much new to report. I'll try to write again soon and post some more pictures of her. And before anyone asks...I don't know how big she is now...ask me after October 7th when we go back to the doctor! :o) Goodnight All!

Happy Anniversary Ben & Amanda!

Happy Birthday tomorrow Dad!

Congrats Joe, Amy, & Jake on your newest addition, Joseph Robert! We are very excited for you and he is absolutely adorable!

brianna's baptism

Yesterday was Brianna's baptism. She was baptized at St. John the Evangelist Church in Streamwood. My sister, Angie, is Brianna's Godmother and Bob's brother, Brian, is her Godfather. There were 3 other babies being baptized at the same ceremony (all boys). As you can see from this picture and if you look at all the other pictures in the Yahoo photo album, she slept the entire time. She didn't cry at all, not even when the water went into her eye. Well, her eyes were closed but still. She jumped when the Deacon was baptizing her and so it went into her eye a little. She was very good though, and she looked like a little angel! We had a little reception/party for her back at the house following the ceremony and we had quite a few members of our families, and a couple of friends(Ben & Amanda :o) ), so that was very nice. Everything pretty much went off without a hitch, except for the fact that the food was ready about 2 1/2 hours after I planned for it to be. But I guess no one starved to death, but I was still upset about it. All in all, I guess you could call it a success, but I won't be ready to have another big gathering for quite a while! Thanks again to everyone who made it to the baptism, it really meant a lot to us, and for those of you who couldn't make it, we know you were there with us in spirit and we hope to see you soon! I think that is going to be all for tonight. I have an IRS test that I'm taking on Wednesday and Thursday this week that I'm completely unprepared for, so I need to get working on that! So it may be a few days before I post again, but until then...take care of yourselves!
Happy Anniversary Bob & Nancy!
Happy Birthday tomorrow Bob!

where do the weekends go?

Well, I'm amazed that it is 10 o'clock on Sunday night already. Time really flies when you are trying to get ready for baptism, studying for a test, and trying to take care of a new baby...oh yeah, not to mention have more than a 5 minute conversation with your husband! :o) But I can't really complain...life is good! :o) This is going to be short, since I need to get things organized for tomorrow, but just wanted to mention the new pictures of Brianna that I've posted. I'll try to mention when I add new pictures, because I'll probably be sticking them in the Volume 3 for a little while as there is only a few pictures in there. Well...that is all for now, I will definitely post after baptism on Saturday with some new pictures if not before, so check back then! Night!

club championship

This is a little late, but what can you do? Last weekend Bob played in the Club Championship at Crystal Woods Golf Club, and racked up his 3rd club championship win in the last 4 years! His dad came in second (2 strokes behind). Bob only has 10 more wins to go before he catches his dad! :o) Brianna, Nancy, and I went out to the course on Monday just to watch them finish up. I didn't think Brianna could handle an entire day at the course just yet! But we were very happy that they took first and second. Congrats to the Carroll men! :o)

off to work we go...

This is Brianna at work with me...I think we have a future accountant on our hands! :o)
Well...today was my first day back at work. I really didn't want to go back today...and when I got there I remembered why! :o) Just kidding...it actually went pretty smoothly. I have lots to catch up on so that made the day go a little faster. Brianna didn't fall asleep until 12:30 or 1 this morning...so I didn't get to bed too early, but she did sleep until about 6:30 this morning...so I can't complain too much I guess! She also had her first doctor's appointment today. She is now weighing in at 8 pounds and is 20 1/4 inches long. She had to get a shot today too but did really well, she didn't cry too long at all. Other than that there isn't too much going on...just thought I would let everyone know how big she is now...since that is the first question everyone asks! :o) Until next time...

trying to get back to normal

Well...I've uploaded some new pictures into my Yahoo photo album. There are a couple of new ones in the Brianna Paige album and the rest are in the Brianna's Trip to Iowa. I hope you all notice that Brianna's eyes are in fact open in some of the pictures! :o) Last night Brianna slept in her crib for the first time. She actually did really well and fell asleep much quicker than she has been when she has been sleeping in her bassinet. Now if she could just get over wanting to be held all the time....a little too much spoiling this past weekend I guess! :o) Until next time...